Archive: November, 2014

Everyone needs to feel appreciated on a regular basis. This stems from our very human need to know and feel that we’re doing a good job in life. It also stems from the fact that, as mammals, we have the need to bond with our parents, family and clan. Plus, a little recognition also prompts our brains to release the feel-good chemical dopamine.

However, while feeling appreciated is a healthy thing, feeling a need to seek out approval from people in our lives (your boss, spouse, parents, friends, neighbors, even your kids) is quite the opposite. Being addicted to such approval can cause you to miss opportunities and put your own dreams on hold all for the sake of being approved of, of being liked. And even if you get approval from outside of yourself, if you do not feel good about yourself, you will feel it is just a lie and still feel empty inside.